In the Hands of Darkness
by Kulani Tawanoki
Summary: When a young o'rant girl is stolen from her mother at birth and given to the dark Lord Ire to be cared for, she discovers that she has a talent at finding dragon eggs. Will Paladin and his servants be able to save her from the Hands of Darkness?
1. Prologue

**In The Hands of Darkness**

**Prologue**

"It's almost time, Milord." A slight, older man murmured from the shadow of a much taller, younger-looking man. The older man had wispy, graying hair and scared, beady black eyes. His face was wrinkled and saggy and large gray eyebrows. The taller man had a heavy black cloak on that covered all but the bottom half of his face. A malicious, almost sadistic smile crossed his lips.

"Perfect. You have served me well, Mosafinmeiger. I am very proud of the gift you are about to give to me." The man's voice had the softness of stone and the warmness of ice. Mosafinmeiger didn't shiver, but that was from years of practice.

"Yes, Lord Ire, as we promised, the child of that o'rant woman that we captured shall be yours and then we shall return her to where we found her, using the half-memory spell that you have taught us. We shall not turn our backs on you, our master." The man called Ire nodded sadistically and nodded almost-happily at the older man.

The two of them waited a while before the screams of a woman finally stopped and were replaced with a newborn's first cry. Ire smirked maliciously and pushed past the older man to a room beyond where they were currently standing. Mosafinmeiger ran after him and found him looking eagerly over the shoulder of Mosafinmeiger's wife, who had helped the o'rant woman give birth to the child.

"It is a girl." The tumanhofer wife told Lord Ire happily. A ball of light shot out of a woman's hands and toward them, but fizzled out before it could reach them. The o'rant woman, with her hands tied above her head, glared at them through pain-filled eyes.

"That's _my_ daughter, Ire, you give her back! Paladin will never allow this! We'll fight for her!" She threatened. Ire smiled and walked over to back-hand the o'rant woman.

"Ah, Lady Allerion, how it pleases me to do that. This is your fourth child, I assume? Well, you won't miss her too much. Tell your precious Sir Bardon that I thank him for the use of his youngest daughter. She will be of great use to me." The dark Lord Ire chuckled. Lady Allerion let out an angry sob and shot another ball of light at him, though it fizzled out much sooner than the other one.

"You'll never get away with this! _Never_!" She screamed. Lord Ire laughed at her attempts to break free of a tuamanhofer's bonds. He looked back at the infant, who was sleeping in the tumanhofer woman's arms. He took the child, who immediately started crying.

"This child's name shall now and forevermore be called Cyn, in honor of her mother, who has sinned against the name of Pretender ever since she heard the name 'Wulder'. This child shall never know the 'kindness' of Wulder. She shall be raised by _me_." Lady Allerion let out an angry cry as Ire disappeared in a plume of smoke.

"What have you done? You let him get away with an innocent child! He'll corrupt her!" The o'rant woman sobbed heavily. Mosafinmeiger looked at his wife and then looked at the woman sadly.

"She's right, you know. Maybe we should ask Wulder for forgivness this time. Asking Ire hasn't gotten us anywhere in the past. Lady Allerion, we'll be happy to help you get your daughter back." The tumanhofer's wife said sadly.

"What _have_ we done?" Mosafinmeiger asked his wife, running his fingers through his wispy gray hair.


	2. Finding A Treasure

**In the Hands of Darkness**

**Chapter One**

"Cyn!" A cold voice barked an order. "Get in here." The young woman, Cyn, was a tall o'rant of around five feet, seven inches, and had waist-length, light auburn hair that had tints of black in some of its strands. Her eyes were a bright golden-brown in color and had a look of sorrow and hardness in them. She sighed and got up from the chair she was in. Fifteen years she had put up with his calling, and in those fifteen years she had had enough. She still moved toward where his voice had boomed, though she really didn't want to.

"What is it, Milord?" She asked in a voice that had the same tone as a dragon's song. Cyn combed her fingers through her hair and walked into a set of large wooden doors. A tall man covered himself in a large black cloak, only showing her the bottom half of his face. She kept her face expressionless as she looked upon him.

"That Paladin has caused trouble for me again. I'll be gone for a few days at least. Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone. Do you understand me? I don't want to have to rebuild _another_ part of the castle." Cyn rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively at the comment about her setting half of the castle on fire the last time he had left her alone. Ire let out a short growl and disappeared in a plume of smoke.

"Finally, the old codger is gone." Cyn sighed and walked back to where she had been. She picked up a book that she had pulled out of a shelf and started to read. The entire time that she was reading, she felt as if something was pulling at her. It was like the pull that she felt when she wandered too far away from the castle. Cyn's brow furrowed in confusion and she put a mark on the page she was on and stood up.

The golden-eyed girl walked towards where she thought that the pull was dragging her towards. Suddenly, she found herself outside the castle and still walking. She turned around to go back inside, but then turned right back around and walked towards the pull.

"Hey now, feet, we've got to get back inside the castle! You know as well as I do that Lord Ire won't be happy when he finds out that we went outside. Come on, let's turn around." She begged her still-walking feet. She turned around and took two steps in the other direction and then was forced to turn and walk back the other way.

"All right, fine, be that way. We'll go where you want to go. But then I'll have no sass from you _at all_ do you here me?" Cyn sighed and put a hand to her forehead. "Oh, wonderful, I'm talking to my _feet_. What has the world come to?" She murmured sourly to herself.

She continued walking until she got past the courtyard and into the forests beyond the castle. Now she was starting to get nervous. The forests were so overgrown and dark and she was used to being in the castle and in the tidy, well-kept courtyards of the castle. Why was she being pulled out of her comfort zone?

"I know, it's Paladin's fault! Lord Ire always says that Paladin is out to get him! Maybe he's found out about me when he wasn't supposed to! Maybe I'm being spelled!" That seemed like a good-enough explanation to her, but she still couldn't be sure. Kat'al, one of the bisonbecks that frequented the castle, had told her of once incident where Paladin had turned back a whole flock of dragons with _a word_. She hadn't really believed him then, but if it was true, she wouldn't put anything past the evil force of Paladin.

She continued walking until the castle was just a distant speck to her. Her whole body shivered in fear. She had never been this far away from the castle and Lord Ire was sure to find out about what she had done.

_But he can't blame me if it's Paladin's fault and not mine, can he?_ She paused for a moment to think about it. _Yes, yes he can._ She finally answered herself. _He will say that I was too weak to block out the enchantment that that scourge Paladin put on me. Oh, this will end in disaster. Feet, please, let's go back!_ She yelled at her feet mentally and then sighed at the insanity of it all.

She couldn't even remember the way back to the castle now, though she thought that she had gone in a straight line since leaving. Maybe if she just turned right back around and kept going, she would find it again. Her feet let her walk two steps before turning around again. She threw her head back in exasperation and groaned.

_Lord Ire will have my head if I go any farther. I'm no use to him now, so I don't see why he keeps me around anyway. Maybe he can't see the same thing. Maybe after this, he'll kill me. _She shuddered in fear though her feet kept walking unperturbed. _I don't want to die. Feet, I'm begging you to go back to the castle_!

As her feet ignored her and she kept going, she looked at the bruises around her wrist that were still purple though the beating had been almost a month ago. She had seen the bruises around her neck and on her back that morning. They looked _much_ better than they had been, but they were still ugly bruises. She sighed and imagined what he would do to her this time, when Sauftaughepper, the tumanhofer maid that had raised her from the time she was young, told him that she'd run off not an hour after he had left. He might even be there now, looking for her.

The pull was getting stronger and stronger and she found herself near a humongous bolder on the side of a hill. There was just enough room for her skinny form to crawl underneath it and into a passage behind it. She did so, though she really didn't know why. When she got into the cavern, it was filled with light golden-yellow glowrocks. She looked around her in awe and then noticed something in shadow in the far corner of the cavern.

She tilted her head to the side, her now-dirty reddish-black hair falling over her shoulder, and moved toward it. The pull was extremely strong now and she feared that in that corner would be a trap-holding gateway, though she couldn't see one. She kneeled down at the edge of the light and reached forward. In a small niche in one of the rock walls was a whole catch of small, oval stones that were a pale yellow. She touched one of them and picked it up and the color turned in the light. It was now the same yellow as the glowrocks.

Again, without knowing what she was doing, she took off the sash that tied her long tunic to her waist. She pulled each stone out of the niche and laid them in the sash. She tied it back around her waist, pulling one out to hold. The enchantment was gone.

_So it was little stones that were enchanting me? I've never heard of that before. I guess I'll ask Hep when I get home. If I can get home._ She crawled carefully back out of the passage that she had used and began her long trek back to the castle. She noticed that when she got back out of the cavern that the sky had turned from the light of day to the dark of night. Her legs ached for rest and she decided that she would sleep back in the cavern and go home tomorrow.

_Yes, I'll explain everything to Hep then. She'll understand, she just has to. She knows everything that I do and then some. She'll know that it wasn't my fault that I wandered_. She comforted herself with those thoughts and curled up to go to sleep, the odd, color-reflecting stone held tightly in her hands. 


	3. Encounter With Others

**In The Hands of Darkness**

**Chapter Two**

Cyn awoke in an unfamiliar place and thought for a moment that Lord Ire had put her in the dungeon again. Suddenly, she sat up and looked around, remembered what had occurred the day before and scrambled to get to her feet.

_Oh, I hope Lord Ire hasn't come back in the night. That would be horrible. He'll kill me before I have a chance to blink. Oh, please make it so that Milord hasn't come home yet. I'll explain everything to Hep when I get home. Just make it so that I can get home before Milord does. _Cyn stopped and blinked as she steadied herself.

_Who am I asking? That doesn't make any sense. Oh well, I might as well start heading back. I hope it doesn't take me as long this time. _She went to go out of the small entrance when something else occurred to her.

"My stones!" She gasped in realization. She turned back around and picked up the sash with her new treasure in it. She tied it around her waist and made sure the knot was tied tight enough that it wouldn't fall off while she was trekking back to Lord Ire's castle. She then picked up the one stone that she had slept with, curled up against the hollow of her throat.

The stone gave off a happy thrum that nearly made her drop it. She held the stone against the hollow of her throat again, a smile turning the corners of her mouth up. The stone let out another happy thrum, and it seemed like it was responding to the calm, happy feeling that Cyn felt at that very moment. She held the egg out, cupping it in her hands.

"You're not a stone, are you?" She asked it. It thrummed again. "Well, I'll just have to find out what you are when we get back to Lord Ire's castle. Maybe he'll be happy that I found something like you." She held the stone against her chest as she crawled out from under the boulder-entrance. Voices reached her ears as soon as she was clear.

"Don't worry, Lady Kale, we shall find your lost daughter. She couldn't be too far off. You said that you were released in this area. You recognized the surroundings." A deep voice soothed. That voice sounded like a doneel, the way the words flowed smoothly into each other. Only the doneels that visited the castle had that much control over the way their voices sounded like.

"I can't help but worry, Dar. It's been over fifteen years since she was taken from me. Lord Ire is bound to have corrupted her mind and she probably doesn't remember me at all." A woman's voice sounded worried. This one sounded like an o'rant and it nearly shook with worry. Cyn thought that it sounded as if the woman was about to cry or had already started.

"And what about the pull of those dragon eggs that you felt earlier, my lady? Has that still not come back to you?" Another o'rant voice, only this time, it was male. And it had a different tilt in its voice, one that Cyn couldn't recognize right off the top of her head. Suddenly, what the male o'rant had said registered in Cyn's head and she looked down at the stone that she cradled.

_Dragon eggs? Am I holding a dragon egg? _The stone gave a responsive thrum and she nearly jumped in pleasure. _A dragon egg! I found a dragon egg! I'm going to have to find books and things on the subject when I get home. Surely Hep will know what to tell Lord Ire about me finding a catch of dragon eggs! _She spun in a circle, pleased with herself. A high-pitched shriek filled the air. Her golden gaze snapped up to look above her. A purple minor dragon was sitting in the branches of the tree, calling a warning. A whole other group of minor dragons, all different colors, filled the tress, calling warnings.

"Someone's in the woods around us! The dragons have found someone!" The woman o'rant's cry came closer as she surged forward to see what the dragons were calling about. Cyn bit back a frightened cry that sprang to her lips and took off running as fast as her bare feet would take her. She ran in the direction that she had come from yesterday, or at least that's what she thought. She'd been so focused on trying to turn around that she hadn't looked for any land marks that could tell her where she was or in what direction she was going.

Footsteps followed behind her, but she was faster. She pushed through the trees and overgrown plants around her, running straight for the place she felt safe from intruders like this. Lord Ire would protect her if the bisonbecks and schoergs didn't do their jobs first.

"Wait, stop! We're not here to harm you! I promise!" The doneel called to her from much farther behind. Cyn couldn't stop her feet to listen. Her blood pumped in her veins and her egg thrummed soothingly to try and calm her down. The minor dragons that she had seen before flew around her, calling at her. Her eyes widened as she realized what they were saying.

_So I'm supposed to slow down so that they can just talk to me? Then I can go free? Are you sure? Well, I read that a dragon knows best, so I guess I'll listen to you, but if these people turn out to be my enemies, I'm running again. And you can't have my eggs, I found them, so their mine to take care of!_ After getting reassurances that her eggs would not be taken from her, she still couldn't stop herself from running.

A red minor dragon swooped down in front of her and blew fire out of his mouth, coming straight towards her. Cyn let out an ear-piercing scream and lost her footing. She tripped over a root and fell straight to the forest floor on her backside. She cringed against a tree, clenching her eyes shut. The egg let out another soothing thrum, though she still trembled in fear.

"All right, what happened here?" The male o'rant asked in a stern voice. Small, high-pitched chirrs and whirrs answered his question.

"Crispin was trying not to let the girl get away and he blew fire at her! Oh, Crispin, that's not how we do things! Apologize right now." The o'rant woman answered the man, understanding the mutterings of the dragons. Claws landed on Cyn's shoulder and a small, scaly head rubbed against her chin. She opened her eyes to see the little red minor dragon rubbing against her apologetically. He sank down to her lap and nudged the hand that held her egg. She looked at the little dragon curiously.

"Can…Can I touch him?" She asked without looking at who she was asking. After a moment of silence the woman answered, "Yes, of course." Cyn reached out a curious hand and stroked the little minor dragon's head. He let out a short trill of happiness and Cyn giggled.

"He's so pretty! His name's Crispin, right?" The o'rant woman laughed, as did the man and the doneel. Cyn finally looked up at who she was speaking to and saw a short, furry doneel that had patches of black and white. He was dressed in fancy yellow clothes that made Cyn's eyes hurt just looking at him. The o'rant man had black hair and bright blue eyes. And his hair covered the tops of his ears, but since he had been running, they showed slightly pointed ears. Cyn's eyes widened slightly. Her ears were like that, only with less of a point. She looked at the woman.

She had short, curly hair that had an auburn color. Her eyes were hazel and had gold flecks that were visible to Cyn all the way over here. She kneeled down and Crispin jumped from Cyn's lap to her shoulder. A whole lot of minor dragons were perched either on one of the three that traveled together or the branches of the trees near them.

"What's your name, little one?" The doneel asked with the grace only a doneel could have. Cyn sealed her lips and shook her head. The doneel smiled at her and gave a courteous bow.

"How could we be so rude, my fair lady? Manners entail that one must give his own name before asking another's. My name is Sir Dar. These are my traveling companions Sir Bardon and his Lady Kale." Cyn's eyes widened and she backed against the tree, scraping painfully against her back.

"No, I know you! Milord says that you work for that evil Paladin that's going to destroy Amara! He says that you all are a scourge upon Amara and must be eliminated. And you can't have my egg! It's mine to take care of!" She yelled, clutching her egg to her chest. It let out more soothing tones.

"No, no young one. We're not evil. Paladin's not evil and we don't want to take your dragon egg." Lady Kale soothed. "How about this, we'll answer any questions that you ask truthfully?" Cyn paused as she thought it over, the egg giving encouraging thrums against her collar bone. She gave Kale a lopsided grin.

"What's the catch?"


	4. Questions and Answers

In the Hands of DarknessChapter Three

"I can't tell you m y name because Milord said not to. And I can't tell you what Milord's name is _either_ because Milord said not to." Cyn warned the others with a glance to make sure her egg was all right. Determining that it was, she smiled and looked back up at the three newcomers. Sir Dar and Lady Kale were sharing an amused glance while Sir Bardon looked down at her with a sympathetic expression.

"The only catch is that you answer any of our questions truthfully as well. How about we go first? Your lord demands a lot out of you, doesn't he, young one?" He asked her, his tone of voice as sympathetic as the look in his eyes. Cyn bit her lip and nodded.

"Yes. And if I don't do what he wants, he beats me. I'm used to it by now, though. I don't cry anymore. Well, I don't cry much. But if I do start crying he puts me in the dungeon for a week without any food other than bread and water. But it's all right, because Hep sneaks me food when my lord isn't paying attention. Hep is very nice." She added with a smile.

"Oh, that doesn't sound like a good way at all to raise a child. Are those bruises from one of your lord's beatings?" Lady Kale asked, petting a green minor dragon on her shoulder that seemed to be looking at her impatiently. Cyn nodded and felt along the bruises.

"Yes, these are from the beating almost a month ago. It was one of the only times when my lord left and I tried a new recipe that I found in a book while Hep was out to the market to get fresh supplies." She grinned sheepishly at Lady Kale. "I set half the castle on fire. My lord told me that I deserved whatever punishment I got. I'm lucky, really. If one of the servants were to do that, I think that my lord would have killed them." Lady Kale looked at her with wide eyes before petting the green minor dragon.

"My Gymn, here, is a healing minor dragon. He could take the aches of the bruises away. Will you allow him to wrap around your neck?" Cyn nodded eagerly, looking at the green minor dragon.

"I would like it very much if Gymn the healing dragon came over here. He seems like a nice minor dragon. There aren't any minor dragons in my lord's castle. There aren't any major dragons in my lord's castle either. He looks like a dragon though, because he's scaly and has wings. I think that it's called a meech dragon when they look like a person, right?" Bardon nodded at her and she looked up at Kale who was looking at the green dragon Gymn. Gymn flew over to her and wrapped himself like a necklace around Cyn's neck. She giggled.

"He tickles!" Kale smiled at her and nodded and then shared a mental conversation with Bardon and Dar. Then she smiled back over at Cyn, who was petting Gymn's head as he healed her neck and back. She was still holding her egg close and Kale could feel the life from inside the egg.

"You haven't asked many questions, little one. Why don't you ask one so that we can balance out these questions and answers?" Cyn bit her lip as she considered all of the questions running through her head. She chose the one that seemed the most reasonable to ask first.

"Why are all of you on my lord's land? He hates trespassers. Despises them would be a better word. And he especially loathes, oh, that's a good one, trespassers that follow the orders of Paladin." Sir Dar the doneel looked over at Bardon, who nodded slightly, allowing him to answer her question.

"Sir Bardon and Lady Kale had a child fifteen years ago that was taken at birth by Lord Ire, or, as Paladin calls him, Pretender." Cyn's eyes widened. Her lord had taken a babe at birth? From people as nice as Sir Bardon and Lady Kale? Her face hardened into a mask of dislike. She knew what her Lord was capable of and the fact that he had stolen a child from the followers of Paladin didn't surprise her at all.

"I'm sorry about your loss. And you're trying to find her, right? I hope that you do. I'm sure that she'll be missing such nice parents as you. I don't think even Lord Ire would stoop so low as to kill an innocent child." She tried to comfort them. Bardon gave a lift of his mouth.

"Thank you, young one. Any other questions you would like to ask one of us? I'm sure that you're absolutely dying to find some things out about us." He smiled good-naturedly. Cyn nodded shyly.

"I do have a question for you, Sir Bardon, but I think that it will make you mad." She bit her lip. Bardon frowned and kneeled down towards her.

"I'm sure that I won't be mad at a pretty little thing like you, little one. Go ahead, ask your question. I promise that I won't get mad." Cyn shyly reached up towards him and brushed the hair away from his ears.

"Why are your ears pointed?" She asked slowly, cautiously. Kale looked like she was stifling a giggle and a yellow and orange dragon near her let out a laugh. Dar kept his face composed, but the merry glint in his eyes told Kale that he was suppressing laughter as well. Bardon stiffened slightly before letting his features relax.

"I'm a halfling. My mother was an o'rant and my father is an emerlindian. That's why my ears aren't as pointed as an emerlindian. You're familiar with the seven high races, aren't you?" He asked. Cyn was about to nod her head, but she was afraid that she would dislodge the little dragon and she didn't want to do that.

"Yes. I listen when my lord has visitors over. I could tell from my hiding place near the cavern where I found my eggs what race you all were because of the way you talked. Then I read and study about the races that I hear in my lord's conversations." She sighed. "It gets very boring in my lord's castle." Bardon smiled and patted her on the head as a gesture of affection. Cyn grinned up at him.

"Now, why did you want to know about my ears, little one? Were you just curious or was there something more behind your request?" Cyn bit her lip shyly, unsure if she wanted to show him the own point on her ears. "Please?" He asked, giving her an innocent, pleading look. She pulled the hair back from the ear closest to him. Bardon's eyes widened slightly and he touched her ear lightly.

"A quarter emerlindian. That's very odd, indeed. Thank you for showing me, little one." He stood and took Kale by the arm, pulling her a little ways away for a hushed conversation and leaving her with Sir Dar. She looked at the couple and then back at Dar, her eyes wide.

"I didn't do anything wrong, did I? I don't want to upset them. Tell them I'm sorry, Sir Dar, don't let them be mad at me!" She begged. Dar smiled and patted her arm.

"Don't worry about it at all, little one. They're not mad at you. Bardon does that when he wants to speak to Kale privately. They are husband and wife, after all, so it's perfectly normal if they pull each other aside at times." Cyn stuck her bottom lip out worriedly.

"As long as they're not mad at me, I'll be all right." She stayed quiet for a moment and picked up Bardon saying 'Wulder be willing'. She blinked in confusion and looked back at Dar. "Sir Dar, who is Wulder?" Dar's eyes widened and he let out a short, choked noise.

"Wulder is the Creator, little one. He made you and He made me, and His presence is all around us right now. He created the ground in which we walk on and He loves every one of His creations." Cyn sighed and wrapped her arms around herself, her downcast eyes turning to look at the ground.

"He doesn't love me, Sir Dar. I am unlovable. My lord said that I am just a wretch and he doesn't know why he doesn't kill me just to keep me out of the way." Tears pressed against her eyes. "Wulder doesn't love me. Nobody does. My lord said so himself." She sobbed. Bardon and Kale looked over immediately.

"Dar, what did you say to her?" Kale demanded. Dar shook his head and Gymn chirred soothingly. A purple minor dragon flew over and sat on Cyn's knee. She hummed a soothing song and Cyn's eyes widened.

"She sings? Metta's your name, isn't it? I can hear you." She smiled happily, though sad tears still lingered in her eyes. "It's a very pretty song, Metta, thank you." She looked up at Kale and Bardon and wiped the tears away. "I'm sorry, Sir Dar didn't say anything. It was me."

"Wulder does love you, little one. Wulder loves everyone, I promise. He wouldn't forsake one of His creations." Kale told her, a smile on her face. "Paladin loves you too. He and Wulder think the same. Wulder knows you, so Paladin knows you. I promise that this gets less confusing, but you have to accept Wulder and let him guide you. Can you do that?" Cyn nodded slowly.

"If He created me, then He surely wants me to follow him, right? I want to follow Wulder, but I don't know if my lord will allow it. He might get mad." Her eyes widened and her hands flew to her mouth. "My lord might be home by now and I'm just sitting here. I have to go!" She stood up with the help of the tree she had been leaning on. Metta and Gymn both flew off and joined the other minor dragons or found perches on Lady Kale.

"Little one, I want to ask you a few more questions. It won't take long, I promise." Cyn nodded and looked at Lady Kale. "Do you like living with your lord?" Cyn paused and then shook her head slowly, sadly.

"No. He's mean and he's cold and he doesn't like me at all. Truth be told, and you told me to be honest with you, I'd much rather stay with you, and Sir Bardon and Sir Dar. You all are so nice." She sighed heavily. "But I must go back to my lord. He'll cause trouble for you all if I don't. He dives into my mind when I don't want him to and drags up all of the things that I've done wrong and punishes me for them."

"Listen, little one, we want to take you with us. We want you to meet Paladin and know the wonders of Wulder, but you'd have to leave your lord's castle. Could you do that?" Cyn paused and nodded her head hesitantly.

"But I need to go back and get my things and tell Hep good-bye. She's been so nice to me all these years. Can I go say good-bye?" She looked at them hesitantly, as if they would say no. All three of them smiled and nodded.

"Of course, little one. You may go. We'll follow you and wait until you're ready to leave. And then we'll go to Paladin. But you must hurry, we can't wait for long." Cyn nodded and ran off in the direction she needed to go. A happy tune sang in her heart and she held her egg close.

_Please don't let Lord Ire be home. Please let me get away unnoticed. Please, Wulder, please._


End file.
